33. Thesis work in I.I.T Delhi completed

 The strenuous process of writing the PhD  thesis had started as early as February 1981 and the guides had gone through it once before I took my family home. After return from Kozhikode, second round corrections were completed and the matter was ready to be typed. Most of my typing work for research papers was  being done by a  stenographer, Mr.Padmanabhan Nambiar, of  Indian Society for Technical Education(ISTE) which had its office in I.I.T Delhi administrative  building. He was deputed from Tamil Nadu state service and was the trusted assistant of I.S.T.E. Programme Coordinator Prof.Hegde. He was dedicated to his profession fully and it was difficult to find such a committed typist like him.

Remember , it was in 1981. Minimum five copies  of the thesis had to be submitted to the institute. Two copies for me and one copy for Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC)  for  whom I had  taken up the project  made  the number of copies required to be 8. Computer typing and photocopying facilities were not available at that time. Multiple copies could be made on typewriters using carbon paper but the carbon copies were not acceptable by the institute. The other alternative to get 8 identical copies of the thesis was to cyclostyle the matter. The process of cyclostyling is first to type the matter on a special type of paper called stencil paper. As the letters on the typewriters hit on this paper, tiny holes are created on the soft tissue-type paper. When this stencil is kept on the cyclostyling machine with dark ink, ink will slowly penetrate the hole and an impression will be created on an ordinary white paper. Ordinary cyclostyling paper is a bit thick, quickly moisture absorbing type. Printing can also be done carefully on A4 size bond paper. The stencil papers  were expensive, costing five  to six  rupees per sheet A stencil, once cut, cannot be corrected or used again as the perforations made by the striking letters remain permanent. Therefore, utmost care is to be taken in typing  on stencils and things cannot be done in a hurried  manner. If mistakes are there, the stencil has to be thrown away as it cannot be corrected. As Nambiar was a very good professional at his typing work, it was certain that mistakes will be very much less. Further, he being a perfectionist, he used to go to his friend Bhatia in mechanical  department (who has a  typewriting  machine with Greek characters)  to insert  Greek letters like µ, α , β, φ ,θ ,Σ ,ξ in my thesis. This will be usually done during the lunch recess. Most of the other typists will  ask these letters  to be inserted  by hand  with a hard-metallic stylus pen, but hand-written Greek letters will not appear to be uniform. Nambiar was  so careful to put a carat (^ ) sign  by  reinserting the stencil  and typing ‘v’  in the appropriate place. To  avoid  confusion   between number  1  and letter  l , he used to type a ( ,  go back by a space and type ‘/’  to form  the special  letter  l and he used to instruct me to close the  open  space  at the top of the letter by hand.   PhD thesis being the report of the hard work done over a period of three or more years, it was absolutely necessary that no mistakes creep in the thesis. A perfect work is what is desired, not  like  some  of the PhD thesis in the  News in Kerala  where even names  of authors  of famous books are  written  erroneously.

Nambiar  was obviously a perfectionist  by nature and it was  my pleasure  to get the work done  by him. He has some peculiarities though.  Someone has to read the matter to him sitting by his side. He will keep on typing continuously, occasionally taking a sip  of some  liquid he used to keep below  his table. Thus, the thesis running to almost 350  pages was typed completely by end of June. The figures were also drawn and combining all these 8 copies of the PhD thesis  were  ready soon after. Three copies to the academic section and two copies to the two guides, one copy to ONGC and two for me together added up to eight. Initially, the copies are  to be submitted in soft bound form. After   evaluation by the examiners and open defence in the department, final copy is to be submitted incorporating corrections, if any, in hard copy (calico or clothe-bound). Copy of the thesis will be kept in the library only after successful defence.

Copies of the synopsis of the thesis submitted earlier  are sent   to a panel of examiners, one from within India and another abroad. Based on their expertise and research back ground, if they accept the appointment, copy of the thesis is sent to them. Examiners chosen are eminent researchers who have worked in the area of research for several years. Usually a period of 3 months is given for examiners, but if any one of the examiners delay the report, thesis defence and award of degree will be delayed. If both the examiners give a positive recommendation for the award of the degree, an open defence is conducted with the Indian examiner present. Any clarifications or questions posed by the foreign examiner is also sought and queries from others in the audience also have to be answered before the thesis is formally accepted. I submitted the thesis by end of July, cleared the dues in the Nalanda hostel, library etc and bid farewell to my teachers and friends and returned to my institution and continued my teaching work in early Aug 1981.

From my  experience  as  Dean Post  Graduate  Studies and Research  in  N I T  Calicut, I would like to share my observation.  In NIT  too, we were  having a similar  procedure, two examiners , one from India and another from abroad. Usually  examiners from abroad  will  accept the examinership only of the  topic of the research is  close to their expertise and current area  of research. These examiners are usually  offered a remuneration  of ,say,   USD  100  or so and one  or two examiners had written  to  me  that they are  not interested  in receiving  this honorarium and this amount could be donated  to some  poor students aid fund. But we  had  to force  him to receive  the amount as we  could not properly account  for such donations.  However, at  least a few examiners  from  our country  would readily accept the examinership irrespective  of the  area  of research, probably  expecting the  reasonably good honorarium they would get but  would  take  inordinately long time to evaluate  the thesis and send a report. If the  topic of research is not familiar  to the examiner, it  will be difficult  to give a proper assessment. In fact, I had to deal with a VIP  examiner from our own state  who took   more than an year  to send  the report and the  lady researcher who submitted the  thesis was badly looking for a job after  delivery of her  first child. When  he was repeatedly  dodging,  with  reluctant   permission  of the Director   I had  to cancel  the appointment and appoint another examiner  to evaluate  the thesis. This  examiner was kind enough to send  the report in two  months so  that  the lady  could get  her viva voce  completed soon after and join the  job. In short, academic  integrity is  sometimes  lacking  in some of  these  individuals. These  persons  tarnish the  image  of the  institution and create hardships  for the research scholars.